Oh there you are....

Ok so it has been a while. I have rightfully neglected my blog because I have been feeling too frustrated to write anything (especially since most of it would come off as negative).

I have made it 6 months in my house now, and while I'm trying to turn things around, there are still some set backs.

That being said, we have done some renovations to the house since I moved in, the biggest being the flooring on the main level, got rid of the carpet; which likes to collect my dog's hair.

Now I realize I never put up pictures from when I had finally moved in, so probably best to start with those, just to give a feel of the changes. There will be more pictures to come as I get everything set up better, installing of entertainment shelves, put DVDs in order, etc. But just quick feel of how I'm slowly progressing.

My living room day I moved in


Another view of my living room, but this time with all the right furniture


Just view of fancy light my mom got me in Montreal (you'll notice a colour theme)


One of my favourite places, the kitchen/bar


Powder room


Guest room, or as we call it, my mom's room


Main bathroom - tried to give everything a theme (easier for shopping)




My favourite purchase


My sanctuary; I lied, this is my favourite purchase



Source of my headaches


Now just quick after pictures:

New floor in living/dining room




New bar; can you sense the colour theme?:


All in all, it's slowly coming along, but I have yet to have a house warming because I want the house to feel decorated and like I've lived in it, not out of boxes. I hope to get more pictures up this weekend after our next project....the office

Frustrations and Jingle Bells

*Please note, any gripins in this post are merely for my venting purposes and obviously do not necessarily reflect on a whole company*

It has been two months now since I have officially moved in. I have been somewhat off kilter during that time as on top of the added stress of moving, I have had to deal with some heartbreaking personal news.

I wish to say that my home experience with Mattamy has gone smoothly and has been an exciting time in my life, but in reality it seems to almost be just continous amounts of stress. Last month I submitted my 30 day report, as required, and thankfully didn't have too many issues to really list down. I listed all major things found by the home inspector and some larger cosmetic things (such as significant floor squeaking and nail pops) to also some minor ones just to get them to touch things up.

Originally it appeared as though this transition had gone smoothly, within 2 weeks, Mattamy and it's trades were at my house to repair a large portion of items, but from there the downhill commenced. Another week passed and some more minor work was done. This time however, no paint could cover up their shoddy work. To this point nothing has been done about it and I'm beyond frustrated.

Long and short - on Friday (the 17th), I had the window company coming in to replace a broken window pane (from ice fall) and in that time I asked Mattamy if they could have someone come in to see the poor work done by the tile company (3rd time they were there, and yet again they broke another tile and never reported it). I also advised of a plumbing back up in my powder room. Mattamy rep scheduled manager and workers to come from 12-4; so my dad left my mom for just what he thought was those 4 hours to wait for them to show. Did they? NO! They didn't even call or email to advise they weren't.

During that time, my powder room toilet also overflowed and leaked onto my carpet. My dad had to call the emergency plumber but that took another 2 hours before anything could be done. So what was supposed to be a simple review of the bad work done by the tile guys and properly unclog my toilet turned into a 7 hour ordeal for my dad.

Needless to say both of us are irritated at this lack of respect on their part and I'm in the current process of trying to send communication to Mattamy but also in contact with Tarion in order to find out what I can do about the tile people always damaging my tiles and never reporting it.

This is suppsoed to be a festive and joyous time for me in my very first home and hosting my first family Christmas but I sometimes find this to be too overwhelming to be thrilled with everything. I wish I could say my home buying experience with Mattamy has gone over smoothly but alas I am left with a bitter taste in my mouth and while I'm not suffering from actual home buyers remorse I am experience home buyers anger from this company.

One week down, 51 one more to go

I've made it to my first week in the house. Though technically I did take possession on the 14th of this month I really didn't move in or have my first sleep there until the next night, which makes today 1 week.

I survived!! I didn't have any serious mental break downs, the house didn't catch on fire, I didn't do any real take out, I managed as an adult.

I of course assumed that by this point I would have the house fully decorated, everything sorted through and be taking billions of pictures and showing everyone around my nicely decorated house. Well, you know what they say about assuming...yeah, I am one.

I basically have the living room set up (though I am just awaiting delivery of my new love seat on Thursday) and my master bedroom. Granted my closet has yet to be organized, but there's a door on it so very easy to not show anyone that. I didn't think it would take this much effort, energy and time to go through all my belongings. The scary thing is I think even once I go through the remaining 10 boxes and 3 big garbage bags of stuff, that my parents will have more at their house once they do the remaining of their purging (their biggest was me moving back out).

So for the time being no photos, hopefully once I have it less looking like a tornado went through and more looking like someone actually lives there, I will be able to share the beauty of my biggest milestone to date.

My biggest purchase to do and soon - barstools. For the life of me I cannot find any that I like or have what I want, I never knew it would be that hard to find good barstools, I'm running out of ideas where to look. Suggestions are much welcomed!!

Today is the day

To quote the Smashing Pumpkins (showing my age)

Today is the greatest
Day I ’ve ever kown
Can’t live for tomorrow
Tomorrow’s much too long

My house officially closes today! I am right on time, no delays, no new moving days, just right on time! Sometime this afternoon I will be picking up my keys and be an official first time home owner.

I have mostly gotten over my fear of it, I admittedly spent most of last night in a funk, crying, moaping, mostly due to realization not only am I growing up, but that I will own the biggest thing in my life, and I did it on my own.

I unfortunately am not able to really move in until tomorrow, but I will try and get some smaller items over if I can, just to ease the amount the movers themselves have to bring. Somehow, I said three bedrooms worth of stuff, but I think I have enough for five bedrooms worth. My parents poor living room is crammed with stuff, the basement is just filled with stuff and even the back sun room has other things, I hope there is enough room in their moving van for all of it.

While I had hoped to try and relax and enjoy my weekend, I have a feeling it will be spent unpacking and organizing. I am making a mandatory stop to Costco on the Saturday to load up on some much needed food, Sunday will probably be spent grocery shopping also, though nothing major as I thankfully do not work until possibly the Wednesday.

I have a home inspector showing up on Tuesday to go over my house, note down things for my 30 day list, be interesting to see what he finds, or thinks of what I've found.

An update to come

Ok,
While I have neglected this a little I have also been having access issues where I could see other people's blogs but never access my own. Of course as a result there have been many updates done to the house.

SO many so I think I actually forget them all. Plenty of pictures have been taken and will all be uploaded (through Facebook account) for all to see the progress. It's really shocking to believe in just over one month I will be living in my own house!

Due to that I need to really bare down and start prepping myself. I have been getting my mortgage ready (I'm sticking with original bank approval but I am fighting tooth and nail to get the lowest rate until my first payment is due!); I've actually managed to currently drop my rate by over 0.44%, which is HUGE. I now have to get packing started because I do admittedly procrastinate so I hate to wait until the week before (which is Turkey Weekend) to pack. Fortunately for me I never fully unpacked when I moved back to my parents, so I really just need to gather the stuff I'm not using as of now and put it away. Things like my computer and my TV can be done the night before I close as I still use them up until then.

Regarding the house, they are just finishing the installation of my cabinets and countertops. I do like all the colours, I think I made good choices, however I need to talk to my CCR about the installation. I do fully admit I know absolutely nothing of installing cabinets but I do know what level is and what appearance is and they all fail on both parts.
The kitchen cabinets aren't level, they all have gaps between the doors so you can even see through into the cabinet (that shouldn't look that way), and even some don't close or open properly. I know Mattamy will tell me that I can just bring that issue up @ my PDI (in Oct) but if the installers are there now (working on mine and other house) why not have them deal with it now instead of later???

And there there were walls

It has been some time since I last posted but it has been worth the wait. I now present to you my house. Words cannot describe how I felt when I saw it on Friday.

Brief mention of what happened. Last week I went out to the house and noticed there were piles of wood behind my house and yes, they were mine (the spray painted number on the side confirmed it)


Yes I'm just a little excited.

Then I went back this week thinking maybe I would have a floor, but it was so much more. I will let these pictures honestly speak for themselves. I was on the verge of some happy tears.

My dad walked in first, thankfully he was wearing his Mattamy hat, so the guys must of thought he was showing me around?


View of my entrance/hallway from Kitchen


This is where my wonderful kitchen will go


This is where my living room will be (or Great Room as they call it)


Back view of my house, nice big window in living and patio door at kitchen


Last but not least, my garage


Overall I am thrilled with the progress. I thought for sure my house would be no where near this stage since it's only the start of May and I'm also the "firebreaker" house which made me thought mine would be last at this stage. Perhaps they have to start mine to then work on everyone else's? As of now it seems far ahead of schedule, but I'm hoping this bad weather will slow them a little (more time for more money)

Here's to next week?

Waterproofed

Apologies for the delay in posting, but I haven't found much yet worth really posting.
I have been obssessive and continously visited my lot every chance I get (whether I should be there or not) but have only managed to twice get pictures. I am really trying to keep to this "every friday" I agreed, so maybe if I do stick to that I should actually have updates every weekend.

As last reported I had footings, well since that visit (I think it was the 23rd visit at this point), I noticed I had foundation walls for my basement! And then again this Friday my dad and I went (after a wonderful dinner at Mucho Burrito) and noticed that I had the membranes up on the sides of my basement exterior walls. How is it that rubber makes me excited (and thankfully not in some S&M way). I fearlously decided to try and climb the tallest dirt pile to try and get a shot of my basement layout (determine where they are putting my plumbing down there in order to think of a future layout).

I went again last night to show my mom what we saw on Friday and when we drove through we actually noticed that the dirt piles were gone in front of my house. Where did they go? Well seems to me they have backfiled a bit, which is really good news! Hoepfully by this Friday they will have done more than just backfiling, but photos will only tell.

Have a peak see below for the progress that has happened. I'm anxious to see how my mom makes her little scrapbook for all this.


The foundation is being revealed to me, it was like a Christmas gift I didn't have to open


Side view of my foundation walls up


View of the difference in window sizes, as I opted for rec-room ready my windows are bigger than my neighbours who didn't upgrade their basement


Overall view of membrane on front and garage, here you can see what looks like maybe some sort of conduit at the back corner of the house, could that be my bathroom?? Or jsut for electricity? (I don't know my conduits)


Side view of the membrane